If he never leaves or enters his home, then who does enter and leave the home?
If he never leaves or enters his home, then who does enter and leave the home?
"No one is seen entering or leaving. Though a veritable army of well paid lawyers prevents any real investigation. Activity does occur in the house, lights come on, fires are started, and shadows of people are seen from within. It is assumed that our gnomish target lives a very reclusive life and even demands his servants be secretive."
"It would be difficult to imagine that a gnome has survived for 30 years without any manner of... stimulous," Candy mused. "If he can employ an army of legal representatives, it is likely that he has money enough as well to have established some magical means of travel to and from his home, or... perhaps an elaborate series of tunnels?" she almost joked.
"I seriously doubt the target has survived for three decades eating consuming his own emissions."
And, should we find any items while eliminating the gnome. I assume that you and your principals do not care what happens with said items, at least as long as we are discrete enough that anything we take is not traced back to us.
"If you enjoy the derision of your fellows as you rob a corpse like a petty thief by all means do as you like. Reputation, despite what you think, means everything. We are not a group of people that goes into drinking at the pub, spending dinner with one's family, or inviting each other to a grand holiday party. We know each other through our work and our work tells us what kind of people we are. If you act as a greedy thief and a thug you are treated as such. If you show care in your work and respect for the soon to be dead it is noted. Keep this in mind as you work as your reputation will determine the kind of work you are given. Greed, you may find, will end up being more costly then you like."
"As to the gnome I honestly could not say. They are somewhat beneath me at the best of times."
Psyana gives a slight nod in understanding: So, where is this mansion? And do you have any other information on the layout of the mansion?
Gethric remains silent during the inquisition of their host. The mark is known... we would do ill to trust anything said to us without seeing it through our own eyes as well...
Candy giggled at Father Spider's pun, drawing her quarterstaff closer to her side.
"At the very least, it could be supposed that he is a creature of habit. A dodgy old kook living in squalor for 30 years is unlikely to trust any new and unreliable vendor. This makes our approach a good deal more difficult, assuming we are in agreement that our former result is not one that should be repeated," she drummed her fingertips on the smooth surface of the quarterstaff.
"A puzzle..."
So nobody enters or leaves the mansion. Either he is already dead, he grows food, or he brings it in from the outside, using stealth or magic. People cannot live without food and water, the question is which does he use and how do we exploit it.
I think it is agreed all around that we need more intel on this particular target before we can proceed. Smoke looks to Father Spider. Obviously we will perform our own reconasaince and info gathering but is there anything else you can tell us?
"No I think I'll leave the fun part to you. But it seems this conversation is winding down. You may leave but do not forget to take your money with you. Oh Silence I need you to stay. I think I have somethign else you can do. Don't worry about the loss of your deaf mute. There is already a replacement in the works. Now I bid you good night."
Well, it seems that we are done here. I imagine that we all need some rest - and Spawn probably could use a little healing. And we have some coins to divvy up.
Squid reaches out and takes the bag of coins.
Anyone who wishes to share in what is within this bag, lets go and find a private place to talk.
Squid then stands and waits for the others to follow suit.
Before Psyana can react csiza slides the pouch towards herself and counts an even amount of 1000 coins from it before closign it up and handing it over to Psyana.
Candy counts out six stacks of five coins, then slips the 30 gold into her belt purse.
"Consider the remainder an investment in our continuing venture. A wand for minor healing will be of considerable use to us." Candy suggested.
With Father Spider's ascent, Candy moves to Spawn and reaches for him.
"I like to keep a couple spells on hand for the girls. I can spare one now, and if you meet me before I retire for the night, I'll try to save another."
Cure Light Wounds healed. Blech, sorry.
Psyana nods in assent. Healing is always preferable to the alternative.
As Squid reaches for the payment, Gethric barks "No. The gold is split between us here... and now." retrieving his share of the payment. "If there is no hurry, I would keep the rest of the night and tomorrow to myself. If you need me before then, the Sweaty Lemure will have means of getting me word." referring to the seedy bar with private rooms.
Before taking his leave, he turns to their instructor "Father, how will this new one find us?"
To Candy he gives a small nod as she approaches, yielding to her touch. He whispers back
Psyana shrugs and takes her share of the coins leaving the remainder for Candy and Smoke.
"On the road to the mansion." Father spider says. "Like you he was recruited into our operation. Unlike you most of his group did not survive. Take that as you will. Now if you do not mind showing yourselves out the door I have other matters that need attending to."
Candy, more than a bit miffed that she is supposed to be walking away with one thousand gold pieces does not need to be asked to leave twice.
Psyana carefully tucks the coins away as best she can and then heads out.
"...I would keep the rest of the night and tomorrow to myself. If you need me before then, the Sweaty Lemure will have means of getting me word." referring to the seedy bar with private rooms.
Gethric nods and leaves with his weighty reward for services thus-far rendered. He does not pause at the surface, instead making a beeline away from the place with some haste. I need some time... trusting that the others will remember where he is to be found.
Candy, more than a bit miffed that she is supposed to be walking away with one thousand gold pieces does not need to be asked to leave twice.
Candy, more than a bit miffed that she is supposed to be walking away with one thousand gold pieces does not need to be asked to leave twice.
Felgrael heads off away from the crematorium, already thinking of how to lighten his significantly heavier coin purse.
Gethric spends the day of delay alone, seeking out what contacts he had made within his kneecapping days to disburse his gain back into the community. He saw to improving his armor and chain first, before commissioning a couple of brutal spiked gloves fitted with cold iron and silver. Begrudgingly conceding a partial point, he also sought out a businessman with an interest in exotic plants and the drugs that might be distilled from them. Purchasing a vial of tainted fluid that would burn through a man's veins if not knock them out cold.
Your first mission started out fair enough. The crew was the typical aloof misanthropic and often egotistical lot you've come to expect from working with others. The target was a supposed Andoran spy who had become the target of a very wealthy enemy of his. You had watched his habits, kept an eye on him and found a pattern. After a great deal of bickering it was decided to kill the man in a volley of arrows, bolts and spells that would drop him. Move in to cut off an ear for proof and there you had it.
Issue was for all the watching the group was doing you never realized that you yourselves were being watched by the Andoran's friends. When the ambush happened, the group only managed to drop a clever illusion while you yourself was counter ambushed.
It was through sheer luck that you managed to spot the spy through the ensuing carnage and dropped an arrow into his eye before fleeing for your life. Bleeding and broken you recieved your payment from a dome faced creature that referred to himself as father spider. Father spider told you many things. Not the least of which that plagued your mind was the fact that although you succeeded. Everyone around you had died as well. He had plenty of derisive comments about you. Criticisms that stung and hit particularly hard. But perhaps the most striking thing about his comments was the sheer detail of which he seemed to know the events of your job. You chalked it up to magic. But the intimacy of these details has led you to believe he might actually have been present the entire time. A though that provoked little comfort.
You were given 1000 gold (which you may now spend) and told to simply wait a mile outside of a certain mansion belonging to a gnome magician. Your next target. You were told little about the group only that it comprised of two women and two men and once you saw them there would be no mistaking they would likely bode ill for those who cross their path.
Candy, having spent the day previous scouring the dregs or the lower class to reinforce the negative feelings associated with utter failure, spent the remainder of the evening in her rented room soaking and considering their new position.
The blood of Isarn was to be avoided, but... considering that she carried a quarterstaff as a walking stick... Candy lifted her hand from the perfumed water and slapped it over her eyes. Of course, had they wished to remain silent, and with the orc-kin bereft of any quiet method of not savaging every subject in sight, she might have passed the stick to him... Children were proficient with staves! Failure...
Candy dressed and looked over her kit. The crossbow she kept as a last resort. The ignorant assumed her clouded eyes meant her blind, and some would believe anything of a blind woman, including that she could hear them from miles away. Well, for her clients, it was more often that she smelled them from that distance, but if the opportunity presented itself whereby she would benefit more from the crossbow's use than from violence being done her, she could within the range of her admittedly strained sight.
When Spawn does not appear for further healing in the morning, Candy seeks him out at his hole. It does not take much to be a greater tracker than herself, only a pair of unclouded eyes and a modicum of patience for tedium, but he was still injured, and despite being surly she had to learn to rely on his expertise. After all, she did enjoy life greatly. And unwillingness to work with ones first team would only stain her reputation in the future.
Of course, few objected to the presence of another Demimondaine in the establishment, save the... less appealing regulars. Candy hissed and snapped her fingers at the wretched creatures to scatter them and if that did not do the trick, threw coppers clear across the room as befit their station. She asks for Gethrick and hurries to his rooms.
"I've no particular talent for speaking sweetly, or suffering fools," she says by way of introduction. "Streets running with blood on account of masses shrieking for it tend to turn one from such displays. But admittedly, my sight is not as great as some," she continues and sighs, but her lips turn up in a faint smile.
Candy approaches and if allowed will heal , and damage with her remaining spells for the previous day.
"Now that that is between us," she says and steps back, "I'll take your cue as to whether I should abide a while and let it be known that I might visit again, or we work out an alternative arrangement and I run down in a state of shock that you would reject my advances."
After conversing with Spawn, Lilith will attend her shopping, and return to her regular clientele for the evening.
After leaving the meeting with the benefactor, Squid went to the supply store and purchased her equipment. Then went to visit a sage with whom she had previous dealing with magical spells ad purchased two new spells. Due to the delicate nature of the scrolls, she proceeded to a concealed place near the water where she performed a brief ceremony resulting in the scrolls being burned, but enabling her familiar to learn the spells.
She then headed to the shore and swam underwater to her home where she hid the majority of the remainder of her money and got a good nights rest.
The next day, she swam back to shore and headed to the planned meeting spot.
If Candy chooses to linger, she finds that Gethric holds no carnal interest - instead offering a mug of kahve and a relatively silent companionship as he continues to break his fast.
On the morning two days after their encounter with the oven and Father, Gethric prepares himself. Securing the tools of his trade, he rises early and makes his way through the city towards their new target...
Candy lingers a while longer, shares the mug and offers a faint smile before leaving.
he rises early and makes his way through the city towards their new target...
So I understand Gethric and Psyana arrive at the same time?
Seeing Spawn, I walk up to him. I know we do not see eye to eye. But, once again, we need to work together. Until we figure out how to overcome this curse. I show him my curse tattoo. We must combine our forces.
I offer my hand. A truce - I will attempt to not push you as I did last time. Together we more or less singlehandedly completed the last mission. I assume our team will be just as useless this time unless they prove otherwise.
Squid drops her hand.
As you will, but remember, together we are much stronger than apart. So far I have seen little from our other companions that would increase our strength or be worth saving. You on the other hand, I would stand with - at least until you try to hit me again.
Candy wakes late, having spent much more of the afternoon aloft than she typically spends in the evening horizontal, dresses in last season's finest, and clutching her quarterstaff like a drunk clutches a tankard of stale ale in the morning, begins shambling out into the sun to attend her party. She finds Spawn and Squid engaged in conversation, and after glancing about the road for any sign of significant cover that might allow her to eavesdrop upon them, shrugs, and clears her throat loudly before approaching, very much wishing she did hold that metaphorical tankard.
"Alms for a struggling artist, Master, Mistress?" she teases. "Else the clinically impoverished. My investments are unsound!"
Having already said all that he feels warranted Gethric does not curse Candy's interruption. Looking around he muses "Two more, then we can move on."
Candy hums and touches her lips, curious what it might be to see in color. But then...
"Ever find yourself curious whether or not we don't match?" she asks Gethric. "Some of the girls comment," she plucks at her clothing and then smiles.
"With all... deference," she tries, "typically a crusty old hermit is just about the greatest pay day I can look forward to, but I've yet to service one of the little folk. A bit... clannish, no?" she hums, considering their position. "Have we discerned a method of discovering a way to research the target, or are we prepared to assault directly?"
Felgrael walked along the road slowly, eyes shaded from the bright day sun. He could hear his associates long before he saw them and he simply joined them with a nod. The words that needed saying had been said back at the crematorium. Hopefully this time around, there wouldn't be as much of a foul up.
Adjusting the gear on his person, he looked around them. Any sign of our replacement partner?